Meet the Notre Dame Fighting Irish football transfer portal commitments

Notre Dame has added four commitments from the transfer portal in December, and that number is only expected to grow in the coming weeks.

Blue & Gold provides info on each of the incoming transfers below (in chronological order from the newest pledge to the oldest).

Arkansas TE Ty Washington

Height: 6-4
Weight: 247
Hometown: Leesburg, Ga.
Commitment date: Dec. 25, 2024
Transfer portal entry date: Dec. 9, 2024
Eligibility: Two years

Notre Dame added depth to its tight end room with Washington, who wasn’t overly productive at Arkansas but has two years of eligibility left to play in South Bend. In three years and 21 games played with the Razorbacks, Washington caught 14 passes for 212 yards and 4 touchdowns. His best season was his redshirt freshman year in 2023, when he hauled in 11 receptions for 170 yards and 2 scores.

Washington was used primarily as a run blocker in 2024. The Leesburg, Ga. native played 116 snaps, 37 on pass plays and 79 on run plays, according to Pro Football Focus. Washington was dismissed from the Arkansas team in October due to a “violation of team rules” per Razorbacks head coach Sam Pittman. Click here for more information on that story.

Wisconsin WR Will Pauling

Height: 5-10
Weight: 190
Hometown: Chicago, Ill.
Commitment date: Dec. 24, 2024
Transfer portal entry date: Dec. 17, 2024
Eligibility: One year

Pauling is on his third stop during his collegiate career, and when he suits up for the Fighting Irish this fall, he’ll have had Mike Brown as his position coach at a third university. Pauling signed with the Bearcats out of high school and played for Cincinnati in 2021 and 2022 and at Wisconsin in 2023. He remained a Badger in 2024 even after Brown took the Notre Dame job, but he has followed his former position coach to South Bend for his final year of eligibility.

Pauling has 129 catches, 1,372 yards and 9 touchdowns in his career. His breakout season came as a redshirt sophomore in 2022 when he accumulated 74 receptions, 837 yards and 6 touchdowns. Pauling brings the ability to play in the slot or to the field in Notre Dame’s offense.

Virginia WR Malachi Fields

Height: 6-4
Weight: 220
Hometown: Charlottesville, Va.
Commitment date: Dec. 23, 2024
Transfer portal entry date: Dec. 17, 2024
Eligibility: One year

Notre Dame gets a No. 1 wide receiver in Fields, who picked the Fighting Irish over Penn State out of the portal. Fields is attended the same high school and is from the same hometown as Irish receivers coach Mike Brown, a connection that surely helped Notre Dame land the talented boundary receiver who has totaled 129 career catches for 1,849 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Fields hauled in 55 passes for 808 yards and 5 touchdowns this past season, following a 58-catch, 811-yard, 5-score campaign in 2023. He strongly considered entering the NFL Draft before deciding to enter the transfer portal.

Alabama CB Devonta Smith

Height: 6-0
Weight: 194
Hometown: Cincinnati, Ohio
Commitment date: Dec. 14, 2024
Transfer portal entry date: Dec. 16, 2024
Eligibility: One year

Make it three straight years of Notre Dame landing a portal player at the nickel position. The Irish grabbed Oklahoma State’s Thomas Harper in 2023 and Arizona State’s Jordan Clark in 2024, and it’ll be Alabama’s Smith for the upcoming season.

Smith started all 12 games for Alabama in 2024 — his first year as a full-time defensive contributor — and finished the season with 30 tackles, a forced fumble and 5 passes defended before entering the transfer portal on Saturday. He excels in coverage, allowing 19 receptions on 29 targets this past season for 123 yards (4.2 yards per attempt) and zero touchdowns this past season. Smith was a heavy contributor on special teams as a freshman in 2021 and a sophomore in 2022 at Alabama before missing most of his junior season in 2023 due to injury.